War of Angelona
The War of Angelona was a war fought between Angelona and the Mamluk Sultanate between 1439 and 1446. Background The Kingdom of Angelona had been a long term enemy of the Mamluk Sultanate and the Ottoman Empire. Angelona, along with Cyprus and Byzantine was viewed by many Muslims as the last Christian bastions in the eastern Mediterranean region. For a long time, the Mamluk Sultans looked upon Angelona with anger since the Angelonians had occupied Damietta and Rosetta. Angelona had also made a dangerous enemy in the form of the Ottoman Empire, after years of raids along the Turkish coast and interference in Ottoman politics. In 1438 the Mamluk Sultan Jaqmaq met with the Ottoman Sultan Murad II, where they made an alliance and pledged to end the Angelonian dynasty. Jaqmaq raised an army of 20,000 and Murad II raised an army of 15,000. Early stages In March 1439 the Ottoman army under Grand Vizier Zaganos Pasha, landed on the north-west Coast of Angelona, whilst the Mamluk commander, Sayf ad-Din Inal, landed on the south coast. The Angelonian's were unprepared for the invasion and Hugh's forces were dispersed around the Mediterranean. Inal laid siege to the ancient city of Alexandrian and laid waste to the surrounding villages, whilst Pasha besieged the ancient city of Larinia. Hugh quickly dispatched messengers across Europe requesting support and split his army. Hugh personally led an army 10,000 strong south towards Alexandrian and placed his son, Prince Robert in command of the other half of the army, around 8,000 strong, who marched towards Larinia. Hugh received disappointing responses from most of the European leaders, but did receive military support from Aragon, Sicily, Cyprus and the Knights of Rhodes. Instead of marching against the much larger army, Hugh took his army to Montfort, the next city along from Alexandrian and awaited for Inal to strike. Inal left a small siege army at Alexandrian and headed east to Montfort. Unbeknown to him, Angelona had been purchasing large amounts of cannons from Hungary and whilst the majority were left in the larger cities, Hugh bought 15 cannons to Montfort. When Inal laid siege to Montfort on the 8th April 1439, Hugh ordered the canons to open fire. The Mamluk's suffered huge losses and were forced to call of the siege after just three days and headed back to Alexandrian. Pasha maintained the siege of Larinia and waited for Prince Robert's army to come to him. Robert met Pasha on the 21st April 1439 and suffered a heavy defeat and Robert was nearly taken prisoner. The sieges of Larinia and Alexandrian continued for six months and whilst Hugh waited for his main army to return to Angelona and for his allies to arrive. On the 8th October 1439, Hugh, now with an army of around 20,000 and 6,000 men from Cyprus and Rhodes met Inal at Alexandrian. Both sides suffered huge losses and Hugh was forced to retreat back to Montfort, unable to have lifted the siege. A week later, Inal received reinforcements from Egypt, numbering around 15,000. Now with reinforcements Inal went west, laying siege to a number of smaller cities. By January 1440, an army of 10,000 Aragonese, 4,000 Sicillian's and a further 2,000 Cypriots arrived. However, Sultan Murad II sent reinforcements to Pasha numbering some 50,000. Hugh had his first success in late January when he defeated the smaller siege army at Alexandrian that had been left behind by Inal. Naval battles In March 1440, Hugh dispatched his two brothers, Edward, Prince of Scotneyshire and James, Prince of Avindeanshire to Egypt. Edward set sail for Rosetta in command of 5,000 men and James was tasked with breaking the Mamluk supply chain with a fleet of nearly 300 ships. James' first victory came in April 1440 when his huge fleet captured 50 Mamluk supply ships. A month later James won another victory when his fleet destroyed the main Mamluk fleet of 100 ships off of the coast of Bretonshire. James then sailed to Alexandria in search of any remaining Mamluk ships. Edward arrived in Rosetta and after an inspection of the cities defenses and delivery of cannons, set out for Alexandria. In June 1440 Edward laid siege to Alexandria and James left 20 ships blockading the port. Sultan Jaqmaq was forced to raise an army 14,000 strong and left Cairo at the beginning of July. By the time his army arrived in Alexandria, Edward's army had boarded ships and sailed to Rosetta. In a bid to prevent further attacks on Alexandria, Jaqmaq marched on Rosetta and laid siege to the city. However Rosetta and neighbouring Damietta at the time were two of the most well defended cities in Europe and with 20 cannons, Jaqmaq's army suffered major losses. A daring night time attack by Prince Edward further decimated Jaqmaq's army and after two weeks he was forced to retreat after suffering losses of around 5,000 men. Northern Angelona Campaign During 1440 and 1441, Pasha led the Ottoman armies on a number of attacks. With a huge army numbering nearly 70,000 and laid siege to numerous Angelonian cities. Whilst having some success, he was unable to break the defenses of any of the larger cities. Pasha's biggest success was taking the city of Mortalain in August 1441. Pasha executed thousands of Mortalain's citizens and used the city as his base. With no supplies reaching Inal's Mamluk army, Inal marched his men to Mortalain and merged with the Ottoman army. With nearly all of the Angelonian cities in the west under siege, Hugh decided to make his move in February 1442. On the 18th February 1442, Hugh met the Mamluk/Ottoman army at the Battle of Fracinbourne. With the combined Mamluk/Ottoman army numbering around 50,000, Hugh's army numbered around 30,000. The Angelonian's looked to have gained the upper hand after a heavy cavalry charge, but the Sicilian left wing broke the line and the fragmentation allowed the Mamluk cavalry to get behind the Angelonian's and cause significant damage. The battle was lost and Hugh's army was forced to retreat. Later stages The Ottoman/Mamluk army continued to besiege a number of cities but the dominant Angelonian navy prevented Ottoman supplies reaching Pasha's force. In mid 1443, Pasha concentrated his attacks on Larinia and by December the city finally fell. The Ottoman Sultan Murad II faced a further problem with a war against Hungary in 1443 meaning he could spare few resources for Pasha. In the spring of 1444 the Angelonian navy under Prince James was dominating the Mediterranean Sea and Pasha's army was struggling for supplies. The Angelonian's had harvested or burned the farms and Pasha was unable to get enough supplies to feed his men. The Mamluk's launched an unsuccessful siege in Rhodes in 1444 in an attempt to divert the Christian forces, but the Mamluk attacks were successfully repealed by the Knights of Rhodes. Pasha set his sights on Kingscourt in July 1444, but the strategic city was extremely well defended and houses over 80 cannons. In the first week of the siege Pasha's army suffered huge losses and in August, Hugh arrived with his army. The following battle saw the starved and tired Ottoman/Mamluk army suffer a devastating defeat and Pasha was forced to fall back to Mortalain and regroup. A number of sieges were ended as Pasha looked to regroup. He begged Murad II to send reinforcements but te Ottoman King was reluctant after suffering devastating naval defeats. Hugh marched on Mortalain in November and laid siege to the city. Pasha's army were in no fit state to meet the Angelonian's in battle and his men were beginning to starve to death. Hugh was happy to sit and starve the enemy out and in January 1445, Pasha sent a messenger to request a surrender. Hugh ignored the request and continued the siege. The Ottoman/Mamluk army were in a terrible state with starvation and illness effecting thousands. It is written that many of the Ottoman's resorted to cannabalism and fighting between the Ottoman's and Mamluk started to cause issues. In May 1445, Pasha had no other option than to open the city gates and hand himself over to the Angelonian's. Hugh imprisoned the Ottoman and Mamluk nobles and then refused to allow the Ottoman and Mamluk army out of the city. Hugh then ordered the city to be burnt to the ground with thousands being burnt to death. The last battle of the conflict occurred in March 1446 on the island of Rhodes where a Mamluk army of 3,000 had the city under siege. Hugh arrived with an army of 8,000 which was predominantly heavy cavalry and annihilated the Mamluk army. Aftermath It took Angelona many years to recover. The countries farms had been plundered and many castles required rebuilding. Aragon, France and Cyprus sent a large number of supply ships to assist in the recovery. Pope Eugene IV commended Angelona for its victory and celebrated the war as a victory for Christendom. He further called on European monarchs to send aid and settlers to Angelona in a bid to strengthen one of Christianity's last remaining Kingdoms in the region. Whilst the war resulted in a victory for King Hugh. The losses to Angelona were high and he suffered more defeats in battle than he won. The saving grace for Angelona was its superior naval power which undoubtedly won the war for Angelona. Category:Wars & conflicts